Best Gaming Internet Provider In My Area – You’re streaming a League of Legends marathon on Twitch, and everything is going great: the chat is flowing in the sidebar; crystal clear graphics on the stream. But then your internet starts to drop. Everything seems to be delayed, like a long-distance phone call. Before you know it, you’re looking at:
Some internet connections are better than others for gaming, and it’s not always easy to know which one you need and how to set it up. In this guide, we’ll give you some factors to consider when choosing an internet plan for serious gaming and some tips to optimize your network.
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Gaming is a very different beast compared to other Internet habits like video streaming and Facebook surfing. To make the discussion easier, we divide gaming bandwidth into three categories.
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In gaming, ping is king and low latency is everything – much more than bandwidth.
What exactly is ping and latency? Patience is the time it takes for a data packet to reach your device from the server. Ping is the time (measured in milliseconds) it takes for a data packet to leave your device, reach the server and return. Basically, both measure “deceleration”.
Latency and ping are very important for gaming because of the real time communication field. Especially if you’re racing against other players to complete an objective, half a second out of sync can completely ruin your game. Even a relatively slow DSL connection can provide a great gaming experience if the latency is low enough to minimize latency.
Unfortunately, ISPs advertise their plans based on bandwidth, without mentioning ping or latency. To be fair, the latency is difficult to state as it may vary from region to region. The only way to ensure a consistently low-latency plan is to test your neighbors’ setup or be ready for a refund if it doesn’t match what your ISP rep says after installation. It’s obviously a drag, but it’s worth it if you’re serious about the game.
Optimal Ping For Gamers: Test Your Ping & Boost Performance
Once you’re connected, it’s easy to ping, latency, etc. to check: just run a few tests with our internet speed test tool. Be sure to check for shared cable connections, especially during peak hours (19:00-21:00).
Information needs are very diverse. As a general rule, any real broadband connection (25+ Mbps download) should provide good enough service for casual gaming, but at low level it’s not a perfect experience. If you’re a serious gamer, you might want unlimited data at the nearest 1 Gbps. While you can get an hourly overview of your gaming and internet habits, it can change depending on the games you’re playing, the devices you’re connected to, your family or roommates who share a connection , and so on.
The only way to realistically estimate how much data you need per month is to measure your usage habits. Some ISPs provide usage statements online or over the phone, but for accuracy, the best option is to run it yourself. If you mainly play PC games, software like Glasswire can be useful, but for more complex setups and devices like the PS3, you’ll need to monitor via a router.
Ironically, most routers don’t have network controls installed, making third-party software necessary. Jump below for more tips on choosing software to configure and monitor your router.
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When you imagine a serious gaming setup, you might imagine neon-lit gadgets with single-digit latency and top-notch fiber internet.
…Setting up a million dollars sounds like fun, but the bandwidth required to play the game is minimal. The graphics and logic are mostly on your local machine, so the data required to connect to the multiplayer world is the same as the data required to leave random messages on your grandmother’s Facebook.
As long as you’re not calling, you’re probably looking at a workable situation. Any connection above 2mbps with ping less than 75ms should work fine for 99% of games.
There’s not much you can do about the second situation (if it’s an option for the game, make sure to connect to nearby servers).
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Your network, on the other hand, can be completely optimized. The most important aspect of your network is your router – see below for router and network routing.
Most gaming experiences can run on low bandwidth and low ping, but streaming (primarily thinking of Twitch here) like video streaming for entertainment (e.g. YouTube, Netflix) has bandwidth and ping just as important.
As with any video streaming setup, the key to success is avoiding dropouts and lag by finding the “sweet spot” between stream quality and connection stability.
Unlike YouTube or Netflix, streaming quality depends on your upload bandwidth, which is far less than the download bandwidth of most consumer connections. So remember that an internet plan that offers “50gbps” refers to download speeds and upload speeds can be as low as 1gbps.
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If you’re using Twitch, the broadcast software you’re using is probably OBS (Open Broadcast Software). With YouTube, you have many video quality options: 360p, 480p, 720p, and 1080p. With Twitch, unless you’re a member, you’re mostly watching 720p. (Auto conversion available for partners.)
OBS has a calculator that lets you enter your upload speed, CPU, game name, and graphics card stats to give you an idea of how to tweak settings.
Assuming your games are coming over the Internet to your gaming device or computer, you’re looking at files that are 50GB or larger. That’s more than the average internet user spends on one game download per month, and it’s surprisingly easy to max out your data plan when you pile on video streaming and other bandwidth-intensive activities.
So when choosing your data level, consider how often you’ll be downloading new games. If you’re a fan of a regularly updated game or two, you have nothing to worry about. If you like to sample from a wide range of titles and want to regularly try limited trials of new games, it’s better to go with the larger 500GB unlimited plan.
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Working with a quality router makes the gaming experience easier. While there are gaming routers on the market, any high-end router can provide the same quality connection if you know what features to look for.
Wireless Ethernet is generally better when it comes to dealing with latency, but it won’t do you any good if your router’s Ethernet ports can’t handle the bandwidth you’re paying for. Gigabit ethernet ports are future-proof and provide high performance when you’re wired.
QoS and network priority may not matter much to casual internet users, but it can have a significant impact on network latency for gamers.
Even if you’re the only person using your network, multiple devices can quickly drain your bandwidth. Every smartphone, laptop and streaming device has its own line. Without QoS, routers have no way to determine which devices should be prioritized and treat each equally. When your roommate leaves his laptop torrenting for hours on end, it’s bad news for game quality.
Best Internet Speed For Gaming — Rango™ Blog
There are two types of QoS: manual and automatic. Automatic is ideal and is common in high-end 802.11ac routers. Manual QoS usually has little significant impact on network performance; It’s more of a hassle than manually configuring the various devices on the network, which is better than nothing.
If for some reason you can’t connect your PS3 via ethernet, dual-band routers can speed up the network speed of Wi-Fi-capable 802.11ac gaming devices, freeing up bandwidth by moving slower devices to separate channels. Even if you’re plugged in, dual-band can take the full load off your network and get your new devices up and running faster. It tends to reduce interference in apartment buildings and dormitories that may compete for bandwidth with several other Wi-Fi networks on the same frequency.
A quality router won’t do much good if it’s not configured correctly. The details vary from model to model, but here are some common tips to maximize your router’s performance:
Wi-Fi connections are inherently unstable and vulnerable to interference. Ethernet cables, on the other hand, are cheap and efficient in maintaining a stable connection with low latency. Even if you don’t have a gigabit ethernet port on your router, a wired connection can solve problems like lag and signal loss, making your gaming experience less enjoyable.
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If you’re playing over Wi-Fi, a quick fix to latency issues is to make sure you’re close enough to the router to get a strong signal. Also, make sure there are no obstacles (walls, microwaves, etc.) near the router.
It works best if the router is placed in the middle of the room – next to the broadcast center, in a corner, in a closet,
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